1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a nanocarbon generation equipment which is designed such that thermally decomposable organic processed materials such as biomass and waste can be rapidly thermally decomposed therein, then quenched and liquefied.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in view of the need to cope with problems relating to the environment, energy material resources, there have been developed techniques for effectively utilizing various kinds of waste such as industrial waste, wherein the waste is appropriately treated so as to extract energy or substances from the waste while avoiding the discharge of environmental contaminants. As for specific examples of such waste-processing techniques, there is known one which is disclosed in JP-A 11-61158 (KOKAI) for example.
JP-A 11-61158 discloses a technique wherein plastic is fused in a thermal decomposition tank to obtain fused plastic, which is then liquid phase-contacted with a primary catalytic layer consisting of activated carbon to thereby thermally decompose the plastic, thus generating thermally decomposed gas. This thermally decomposed gas is then vapor phase-contacted with a secondary catalytic layer of a secondary catalyst column which is communicated with an upper interior portion of the thermal decomposition tank, thereby refining hydrocarbon gas which is of softened state and of small molecular weight.
However, this conventional technique to treat organic processed materials is accompanied with various problems as explained below. Namely, since this conventional technique is a batch treatment using a high-temperature furnace, it takes a lot of time before carbon can be taken out of the furnace after a series of processes including a step of loading the furnace with a catalyst and, after finishing the reaction, a step of cooling the interior of furnace. Further, if carbon is taken out of the furnace when the temperature of carbon is still heated to a high temperature, there is a risk of burning of carbon. Furthermore, since the reaction is performed in a reducing atmosphere, it may become difficult to maintain the reducing atmosphere if the process is to be performed on a large scale. Additionally there is a problem that if the process is to be performed on a large scale, the introduction of a catalyst as well as the continuous removal of carbon product may become difficult.